Sixth Form Biodiversity Conference

Photo credit: David Kirkham

To celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010, the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service organised a special 6th conference on biodiversity, with funding support from CUE-East. The Norfolk Biodiversity Partnership and a range of other local organisations took part, including the University of East Anglia, the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, the Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service, the Norfolk Non-native Species Initiative and the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society.

The conference attracted over 60 students from four schools in the Norwich area, and featured:

Plenary presentations on the importance of biodiversity;

Interactive workshops on a range of topical issues, including biological recording, ecological networks, invasive alien species, curating and international conservation;

A debate on the motion: “This house believes that extinction is a natural process and that too many resources are spent on the conservation of biodiversity.”

Feedback on the day from both students and teachers was very positive:

“I learnt about the importance of biodiversity and the importance of collections in museums.”

“It was very informative and the debate was fun.”

“The workshops were really interesting and thought provoking.”

“Great opportunity to learn more about an important topic, but also to share and exchange opinions with not only experts but also others of our own age.”

“Biodiversity is a more complex issue than I thought.”

”An utterly brilliant day which was engaging and directly relevant to student courses.”

In light of this positive feedback, a second 6th form biodiversity conference was organised in 2011, and it is hoped that the conference will now become an annual event. If your school might be interested in taking part in the next 6th form conference, please get in touch!

To download a copy of the conference reports, please click on the links below: